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Jurors hear 911 call in Grabe shooting death

Allen Grabe fired an initial volley of shots at his sleeping son, went to the master bedroom and reloaded his .22-caliber revolver, then returned to the doorway of his son’s bedroom, according to testimony Thursday in Grabe’s murder trial.

Grabe’s wife, Jaquette, has testified she was standing near her son’s bed while on the phone with a 911 operator when more shots rang out the night of Sept. 11, 2008.

“You’re going to destroy him ... he’s going home to God,” Allen Grabe is heard saying in the background on a recording of the 911 call, which was played for the jury Thursday.

A flurry of shots is heard against the background of Jaquette Grabe’s screams.

Mesa County forensic pathologist Dr. Robert Kurtzman testified that Jacob Grabe, 13, was shot nine times, five shots to the boy’s head and four to the chest.

Jaquette Grabe, who remained in contact with the 911 operator after the shooting stopped, told the operator she didn’t know why her husband believed she was ruining their only child.

“We just found out that he lost 20 percent of his income,” she said on the 911 recording.

Jaquette Grabe remained on the phone and locked herself in the boy’s closet while waiting for law enforcement to arrive at the couple’s Pear Park home.

“Hurry, he’s yelling at me,” she told the operator.

Allen Grabe, 53, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in his son’s death.

Grabe’s jury on Thursday also heard from a Mesa County Sheriff’s Department investigator who challenged portions of Jaquette Grabe’s testimony Wednesday.

Jaquette Grabe testified Wednesday her husband appeared “very evil” after firing his initial round of shots, but investigator Robin Martin said she never made the observation during three separate interviews conducted after the shooting.

Sheriff’s Department investigator Lissah Norcross testified Allen Grabe was calm, lucid and responsive to questions when she interviewed him several hours after the shooting. She said he even “chuckled a little bit” at the end of the interview when asked about the time displayed on her watch.

A blood test confirmed Allen Grabe had not consumed alcohol or drugs the night of Sept. 11, Norcross said.

Prosecutors argue financial stress in the Grabe home hit a boiling point at a time the father had disengaged from his son’s medical condition.

Several witnesses have testified that Allen Grabe never mentioned “special needs” in discussing his son’s schooling options and treatment for the boy’s Asperger’s syndrome, a neurological disorder similar to autism.